Students may have been puzzled that the "incomplete records" question appeared in section 1. The topic was not a surprise, but teachers said students may have expected it to turn up elsewhere on the paper.

Derek Flynn, of the Business Studies Teachers' Association (BSTAI) and CBS, Synge Street, Dublin, said, though challenging, it was a straightforward enough paper with a great range of questions.

He thought question 8 on marginal costing was easier than other years and students would have been happy with the format.

Veronica Edwards, of TUI and Carrigallen Vocational School, Co Leitrim, and Peter Quinn, of the ASTI and St Flannan's College, Ennis, agreed question 9 (d) on the unit cost of a product was difficult.

Ms Edwards said students who examined past trends would have been happy with the club accounts and the tabular statement in section II.

Mr Quinn noted that the tabular statement usually comes up in section I, rather than section II. He said section III was more straightforward than last year.

Ray O'Loughlin, of the Institute of Education, thought it an uncomplicated but time-consuming paper that "required candidates to work hard for three hours".

At ordinary level, Mr Lynch said students would have been surprised to see departmental accounts coming up, because it was a long time since they appeared. But he had no problems with the question.